If someone has a tic, a part of their face or body keeps making a small uncontrollable movement, for example because they are tired or have a nervous illness.
...people with nervous tics.
She developed a tic in her left eye.
Synonyms: twitch, jerk, spasm More Synonyms of tic
tic in British English
(tɪk)
noun pathology
spasmodic twitching of a particular group of muscles
Word origin
C19: from French, of uncertain origin; compare Italian ticche
tic in American English
(tɪk)
noun
1.
any involuntary, regularly repeated, spasmodic contraction of a muscle, generally of neurotic origin
2.
tic douloureux
Word origin
Fr < ?
-tic in American English
suffix
a suffix, equivalent in meaning to -ic, occurring in adjectives of Greek origin (analytic), used esp. in the formation of adjectives from nouns with stems in -sis
hematotic
neurotic
Word origin
[‹ Gk -tikos, extracted from adjs. derived with -ikos-ic from agent nouns ending in -tēs; cf. hieratic]
Examples of 'tic' in a sentence
tic
It has been said that the wink was a nervous tic.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
They were really only a series of facial tics and funny voices.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
She also suffers from motor and vocal tics including swearing.
The Sun (2012)
It was like a nervous tic.
The Sun (2009)
Not least my sporadic facial tic.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The next time we saw her, her slight facial tic had entirely disappeared.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
This is the book's main stylistic tic.
The Times Literary Supplement (2012)
Muscle spasms or nervous tics?
Atkinson, Jacqueline M Coping with Stress at Work (1988)
He had no nervous tics.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
What are today's stylistic tics?
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
The dialogue is vigorous and inventive, with a bold sprinkling of verbal tics and oddities that only makes it more convincing.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
None of us can help the way we look and it is regrettable that facial tics and lopsided lips affect the way we see our political leaders.
The Sun (2014)
It's a little unsettling at first, like a nervous tic.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Test cricket may be all Prior has left, and he played like a man with a nervous tic.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
He defends himself against accusations of cruelty to Royal, with her verbal tics and her sense of perpetual victimhood.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The clubs around us are the ones looking over their shoulders, the ones with niggling doubts, nursing a nervous tic.
The Sun (2010)
But we decided against using those, as the end results made me look as though I had some sort of facial tic.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
(noun)
Definition
a spasmodic muscular twitch
She developed a tic in her left eye.
Synonyms
twitch
He developed a nervous twitch.
jerk
She gave the dog's lead a jerk.
spasm
A lack of magnesium causes muscles to go into spasm.
Additional synonyms
in the sense of jerk
She gave the dog's lead a jerk.
Synonyms
tug,
pull,
yank,
wrench,
twitch,
tweak
in the sense of spasm
Definition
a sudden tightening of the muscles, over which one has no control
A lack of magnesium causes muscles to go into spasm.